30 Drabbles
by WarningShot
Summary: 30 short stories about various pairings and characters. Each chapter comes with its own warnings and disclaimers. Pairings currently featured: Yuusuke/Keiko, Yuusuke/Koenma, Yuusuke/Kurama, Yuusuke/Kuwabara, Kurama/Kuwabara, Yuusuke/Botan, Kurama/Hiei
1. Ring's on the Other Hand YuusukeKeiko

**Disclaimer: This isn't my sandbox, I'm just playing in it for a while.**

**Notes: I stole these prompts. You hear me? I stole them like the dirty thief that I am. This is the 1st prompt (the ring's on the other hand) from the Delta List at 30_kisses on LJ, and I haven't properly signed up for a challenge there, I stole the list because I needed something to get my creativity going. Additional inspiration taken from "Balloons" by Julia Nunes. **

**This chapter contains spoilers for the end of the series, implied Keiko/OMC, is a slight AU, and is written in present-tense third-person because I had a weirdo moment.**

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"So."

"So."

_So this is fucking weird_, Yuusuke thinks, fist clenched in his jacket pocket. Keiko's hair's gotten long - it looks good on her, as does the school uniform from that girl's school she's going to. What he's having problems with is the ring.

A ring he gave her.

On her left hand.

"Who's the lucky guy?" He asks finally. Keiko glances down at her hands.

"Keitaro."

"The midget from gym class Keitaro?"

"He's not a _midget_, Yuusuke, you are so - " She stops, half-smiling. He's tricked her into an old rant. Damn him. "Yes. That Keitaro."

"That's a nice ring he got you."

"That's some nice subtlety you're showing." She fidgets with it, turning it around and around on her finger. "He was in the middle of proposing, Yuusuke, I couldn't very well stop and say 'Oh, my ex-boyfriend who I've kind of been pining over secretly gave me that ring, mind not using it to signify our intent to live together 'til death do us part?' Total moment-ruiner."

"I'm not seeing the problem here." Keiko sighs, running her right hand through her hair.

"Three years is a long time, Yuusuke. People change."

"I see _that_."

"It's not that I didn't wait, it's just - "

"It's just that you didn't wait long enough. I get it, Keiko, really. Congratulations." He forces the word out and turns on his heel, marching steadfastly away from her before he does something stupid. He can just barely hear her mutter _- idiot -_ before the sound of her shoes on the pavement moves away from him, fading rapidly as other people move in her wake.

It's only when her echo is gone completely that he slams his fist into the nearest light pole, bending it and sending sparks flying. "Sorry," he growls at the (understandably surprised) man on the bench. "I'm kind of having a bad day."

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**Post-note: I like Keiko, I promise. This is an AUish-type thing where she was just a tad bit more impatient than she was in the series.**

**Reviews are greatly appreciated. **


	2. Fall From Grace YuusukeKoenma

**Disclaimer: This isn't my sandbox, I'm just playing in it for a while.**

**Notes: I stole these prompts. You hear me? I stole them like the dirty thief that I am. This is the 2nd prompt (fall from grace/glory) from the Beta List at 30kisses on LJ, and I haven't properly signed up for a challenge there, I stole the list because I needed something to get my creativity going. **

**This chapter contains spoilers for the end of the Chapter Black saga, Yuusuke/Koenma, implied Koenma/Sensui, and mentions of nekkidness.**

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**And thus the heroes were exiled. Koenma, who had defied his father's orders to help Yuusuke. Yuusuke himself, who had come back from the dead with a genetic time bomb going off in his veins. One exiled to the human world and the other being ordered to leave it.

It was only ever a passing attraction, in that respect.

During the few weeks in which they were both earthbound, as it were, they sought relief in one another, the ones who understood just what had happened in that cave.

"I have really," Koenma mused, folding his hands across his bare chest, "_really_ got to stop doing this."

"Look, if you didn't like it, I won't do it again." There was the slightest hint of a pout in Yuusuke's voice.

"No, that was great," Koenma assured him. "And I'm not going to ask where you learned it. I meant _this _in general." Yuusuke looked down at him, confused.

"Sense, please?" Koenma sighed and laid one arm over his eyes.

"I have the bad habit of getting..._attached_ to people who work for me. They tend to die."

"Well, that's not exactly a concern of mine," Yuusuke murmured in response, shimmying under the blanket to lay with his arms under his head. "Besides, Shinobu - the one you knew - was dead long before he reached Makai."

"And that was still my fault," Koenma replied automatically before sitting bolt upright. "Wait, what did you say?"

"Calm down, Princey." Yuusuke looked askance at the obviously flustered Koenma. "It was obvious you cared pretty deeply for the guy. I'm just confirming a hunch." Koenma's shoulders sagged.

"I'm disturbed, aren't I?"

"Do I have any room to talk?" Yuusuke yawned. "Look, from what I understand he was a pretty amazing guy before he went all batshit crazy. And it's not like I wanna marry you, so if you wouldn't mind shutting up about it so I can catch a nap before someone comes looking for me like they always do?" His eyes closed. Koenma stared at him, shocked and a little peeved, before a smile found its way onto his face.

"Sure thing, Yuusuke." He lay down with his head on Yuusuke's shoulder, letting his eyes drift closed as Yuusuke's arm draped over him.


	3. Punk YuusukeKuwabara

**Disclaimer: This isn't my sandbox, I'm just playing in it for a while.**

**Notes: I stole these prompts. You hear me? I stole them like the dirty thief that I am. This is the 3rd prompt from the Alpha list at 30kisses on LJ, and I haven't properly signed up for a challenge there, I stole the list because I needed something to get my creativity going. **

**This chapter is set in some nebulous period in the middle of the series and contains Kuwabara/Yuusuke. **

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**"But...we're punks." That was the first thing Kuwabara said after he and Yuusuke finally sussed what was making them act the way they had been acting around each other. They knew what the word meant, what it entailed. It was a label, a badge of hard-assery that meant not doing things like kissing your best friend/main rival/teammate in the middle of the street on the coldest night of the year. It doesn't matter if his ears are red because he refuses to wear a hat. It doesn't matter if snow's landed in his hair, almost glowing against the sheer blackness of it. It doesn't matter that he's pouting, because it's _not cute_. None of it is.

Not in the least.

Kuwabara swallowed.

Yuusuke just glared up at him, still pouting. Kuwabara knew he'd deny it if he pointed it out, so he didn't.

"You really still buy into that bullshit?" Kuwabara frowned.

"You're into it, too, Urameshi."

"I was, once. Think about it, Kuwabara. Think about everything we've seen and everything we've done and everyone we've fought, and you're really gonna let a bunch of two-bit nobodies decide what you can do?" His voice was getting louder with every word, and Kuwabara knew he was headed for a rant. "Half these guys couldn't pin you down if they all came at you at once, and you're worried about what they think? We've saved the fucking world, Kuwabara, and you really - "

He stopped. Not because he wanted to - he was building up steam, half-yelling and waving his arms around, and hell, it'd keep him warm - but because his mouth was currently being blocked by Kuwabara's. Kuwabara was grabbing his arms, squeezing entirely too hard, and his eyes were screwed up like he was getting a shot somewhere unpleasant, but his lips were pressed against Yuusuke's slightly parted ones.

Yuusuke had just relaxed into it when Kuwabara pulled away.

"If nothing else, it'll give me a way to shut you up," he growled. Yuusuke grinned blindingly. "Just...not in the middle of the street, okay? You should know better than to play in traffic, anyway."


	4. Excuse Me YuusukeKeiko

**Disclaimer: This isn't my sandbox, I'm just playing in it for a while.**

**Notes: I stole these prompts. You hear me? I stole them like the dirty thief that I am. This is the 4th prompt (excuse me) from the Delta List at 30kisses on LJ, and I haven't properly signed up for a challenge there, I stole the list because I needed something to get my creativity going. I did a Yuusuke-focused set of sentences for that list, and the first few lines came from that list. Check my profile if you wanna read it!  
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**This chapter contains spoilers for the end of the series and Yuusuke/Keiko.**

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"_Excuse me_? What did you think I was doing all this time, Yuusuke, twiddling my thumbs?"

"Knitting, actually."

"_Some of us_ were trying to make a life for ourselves in the _real world_." Yuusuke stilled. Keiko did the same in response. She would never get used to how very _still_ he could be. He was always so full of energy - even now, while she'd been yelling, he'd been playing with a coffee cup, spinning it on its edge. The cup was flat on the table, clutched in Yuusuke's hand.

"What did you think _I_ was doing, Keiko? Playing _pretend_?"

"I didn't mean that."

"While you were busy with your school and your _new boyfriends_ - "

"Oh, that's really mature." It leapt from her before she could stop it, and she turned to the sink so he couldn't see her face. She heard the chair scrape across the floor and Yuusuke stood, radiating anger.

"Look at me." She turned, eyes on the floor. "Look at _me, _Keiko." Slowly, her eyes moved upwards, towards his face. He'd always been angry, almost constantly in fact, but it had never been directed at her before. It was a physical presence in the room, and it weighed down on her. "I am not the kid that left you behind three years ago, Keiko. I have _changed_, and if this is going to work we both need to realize something."

"What's that?" Keiko hated her voice briefly, for being so small.

"You need to realize that _I didn't ask for any of this_. I just wanted some kid not to get hit with a car, and it put me on the most fucked-up path I think anyone has ever been on. You also need to realize that it was all very, _very_ real. I kept you out of it, even when you insisted on tagging along, so I can kind of see how you might think I was off hallucinating somewhere. But dammit, if I have to take you to Makai myself to make you see how real it is, I will." He was slipping back into a ranting mode, and Keiko instantly felt more at ease. _I shouldn't be afraid of him_, something in her head whispered. _That's not how this works._ "You've seen what I can do, you've seen what Kuwabara and Kurama and Hiei can do, you've seen what I could have had and I gave it up for you. Realize that, Keiko." Her anger swelled, ever so slightly.

"That was technically three things," she muttered. "And what do you mean, you _gave it up for me_? You mean could have had _better_ than me? You _settled_ for me? Am I a consolation prize?" Yuusuke gritted his teeth.

"Sometimes, Keiko, you're stupider than me." He moved forward. Keiko flinched. He stopped. "...oh." He turned away, focusing now on the coffee cup on the table, the stain on the tablecloth just to the right of the cup, the pattern on the tablecloth itself. "I get it," he said softly.

"Yuusuke, I - "

"No, it's cool. I get it. Kurama said I was moving differently - guess the demon in me took hold." He walked suddenly out of the kitchen, towards the front door.

"Yuusuke, where are you going?"

"To drink myself stupid somewhere."

"Yuusuke, come back."

He paused, coat halfway on, and just looked at her. Something in his gaze, something she couldn't name - hurt, perhaps - made it burn into her, making her breath hitch. When he spoke, it was quietly, almost so she couldn't hear.

"I always do."

Keiko watched the door close with tears in her eyes and sat at the kitchen table, staring at that damned coffee cup. It was probably stained at the bottom. Yuusuke never washed his cups out, just kept reusing them until they disintegrated.

Keiko buried her face in her arms and cried.

She was never sure weather or not the words came to her in a dream, but when she woke from where she had fallen asleep at the table, Yuusuke was asleep on the couch and the news was winding down on the TV.

_What _I_ need to realize is how damned lucky I am that you waited for me. What other girl would do that, seriously? _


	5. Denial YuusukeKurama

**Disclaimer: This isn't my sandbox, I'm just playing in it for a while.**

**Notes: I stole these prompts. You hear me? I stole them like the dirty thief that I am. This is the 5th prompt (denial) from the Iota List at 30kisses on LJ, and I haven't properly signed up for a challenge there, I stole the list because I needed something to get my creativity going. **

**This chapter contains Kurama/Yuusuke, hypothetical kisses, and Yuusuke being thick. **

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Laying on his back, arms under his head, staring at the ceiling.

No, not staring. _Glaring_.

That's how he stayed for hours, ignoring his mother's shouting and glaring at the spackle as though it had wronged him personally somehow.

But it hadn't.

Nothing had.

Because _nothing had happened_, and that's what he was telling _everybody_. Not that he should have to tell them _anything_, because why should they talk about something that _didn't happen_? It was silly.

He was repeating this mantra when the knock came at his window. He moved for the first time since he'd gotten home, looking over to see Kurama sitting on a branch outside, looking apologetic. Muscles protesting somewhat, he leaned over and flipped the latch, allowing his teammate to climb inside.

"There wasn't a tree there before," he said conversationally. Kurama only smiled.

"I'm not surprised you missed it, fixated as you were on, er..." He glanced up. "Your thoughts."

"Yeah, I get like that sometimes." Kurama was standing in the middle of the room, hands in his pockets, uniform standing out like a neon sign against the pale walls. Yuusuke kind of hated him. He wasn't sure why, considering the fact that _nothing had happened_ between them.

"Yuusuke, I wanted to talk about - "

"Nothing happened," Yuusuke said quickly. Kurama's shoulders fell, almost imperceptively.

"Of course." A long pause. Kurama broke it, finally, clearing his throat. "If something..._had_ happened, however, I would of course be interested in what you planned on telling the others. Kuwabara in particular has been quite persistent."

"Hasn't said anything to me."

"He seems to be under the impression that you would actually meld his DNA with the sidewalk were he to suggest..." Another pause. Yuusuke looked up at Kurama.

"If something _had_ happened," he said carefully, which was weird because one, Yuusuke was never careful about anything, much less his words, and two, there was nothing to be careful _about_.

Probably.

"If something had happened," he repeated, meeting Kurama's eyes, "_Why_ exactly would it have happened?" Kurama sat on the foot of Yuusuke's bed, hands folded in his lap.

"Perhaps a surge of relief. You nearly died, Yuusuke."

"That's kind of my thing, though," Yuusuke pressed. "That wouldn't be anything new."

"Perhaps there would be a new element introduced," Kurama said quietly, looking up through his eyelashes to Yuusuke's confused face. "I've run this particular simulation before, Yuusuke. I have not, however, had to deal with a variable as wildly unpredictable as yourself. It plays hell with my calculations, you see."

Yuusuke licked his lips once, twice, and opened his mouth. Nothing came out. The stare Kurama was giving was unnervingly intense, throwing him off guard. One more try and words finally formed: "What have I told you about bringing science into regular-people conversations, Kurama?"

A fleeting smile. "At least you recognized it as science this time."

"Yeah, well, maybe you're training me." Another silence, only mildly more comfortable than the last. Kurama was the one to break it this time.

"The thing about science is that it requires countless attempts to prove a single hypothesis." He looked at Yuusuke, looking as though he expected to have to explain himself.

Yuusuke, for once in his life, understood.

"So you're saying in order to prove whether or not anything happened," he paused, all moisture seeming to have left his mouth, "we'd have to try it. A lot."

"Indeed."

"...for science, then?" Kurama smiled then, wide and brilliant.

"For science."


	6. Magnifying Glass KuramaKuwabara

**Disclaimer: This isn't my sandbox, I'm just playing in it for a while.**

**Notes: I stole these prompts. You hear me? I stole them like the dirty thief that I am. This is the 6th prompt (magnifying glass) from the Beta List at 30kisses on LJ, and I haven't properly signed up for a challenge there, I stole the list because I needed something to get my creativity going. **

**This chapter contains Kuwabara/Botan, one-sided Kurama/Kuwabara, and a conspicuous lack of Yuusuke. It's also the longest one so far. I may need to change the title of this story soon...**

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**Kurama had this _look_, a piercing stare that went straight through Kuwabara - or, in its more toned-down version, seemed to examine him. He passed it off as Kurama being way smarter than him, the intelligence in his eyes making it seem like he was trying to hold a magnifying glass to his soul. Or, in the second case, maybe he was using Kuwabara in some kind of study. His sister always said he was a genetic anomaly.

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And then there was the time he nearly died, caught between a demon and a hard place, energy dwindling and wound bleeding freely. It was a big ugly thing - both the demon and the wound it had given him, one purple and snarling, the other rapidly turning green from the poison that seemed to give it that extra kick. The demon leapt, the wound pulsed, and Kuwabara's sword sputtered out in his hands.

Then, suddenly, he was covered in demon goo and Kurama was yelling at him.

"What were you _thinking_, Kuwabara?!" he cried, tossing the whip away. Kuwabara roared as Kurama pressed on the gash in his side. "I'm sorry," Kurama muttered. "It's an antidote - why didn't you ask for help?"

"Had your own to worry about," Kuwabara wheezed in response, bracing himself on Kurama's slim shoulder. The world was spinning, a little.

"You _are_ my own," Kurama muttered, and just before he blacked out Kuwabara noted faintly that Kurama did not, in fact, smell like roses.

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He woke slowly, to the smells of fried rice and wild sage. One meant he was at Keiko's. The other meant Kurama was sitting by his bed with a crossword - he could hear the pencil scratching on the thin paper.

"'rama," he murmured. The scratching stopped and the sage smell grew stronger as Kurama's cool hand rested on his forehead.

"Take it easy, Kuwabara. You're still running a fever."

"How long...?"

"About three days." Kuwabara's eyes opened in surprise, and he was met with Kurama's own brilliant gaze. It was the same as always - searching, intelligent, and a little bit alien - but with something else behind it. Kuwabara couldn't quite place it, but it reminded him of the way Keiko looked at Urameshi when he was doing something stupid and heroic. He meant to say something about it, but the thought of Keiko reminded him of the fried rice smell, and that's what came out of his mouth instead.

"Keiko's?"

"Your sister is out of town," Kurama replied, reaching for something on the nightstand. "We were unable to get into your house. Yuusuke's mother is on one of her 'vacations', as he puts it, and can not be trusted not to injure you further by accident or otherwise. My own mother would demand you be taken to a hospital. Swallow this." A pill was pushed between his lips. He swallowed dryly, wincing at the rawness in his throat. "Keiko was able to convince her parents to allow you to stay here for a brief time - she's quite the cunning liar when she needs to be." That brought a trembling smile to Kuwabara's face.

"How about cook?"

"I know you're hungry, Kuwabara, but your stomach is in no shape to accept solid food right now. The pill you just took should satisfy your nutritional needs until you've healed a bit more."

It was cruel, Kuwabara thought, to put a guy up over a ramen shop when he couldn't eat. He was about to say something to that effect when a crippling pain shot up from his abdomen and through his body, making his back arch up from the mattress and a strangled scream tear from his throat. He heard Kurama yell his name and felt his hands on his chest, but the pain soon overtook his senses and he fell back into blackness as Kurama's anguished voice echoed in his mind.

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The next time he woke, there was warmth on his chest and a crisp, light scent he couldn't place. He brought one hand up to the weight on his torso and found the knot of a large cloth bow. He knew who that bow belonged to.

"Botan."

"Kuwabara!" She shot upright, hands going immediately to hover around his face. "Oh, Kuwabara, I thought for sure we'd lost you! I yelled at Kurama for an hour straight for not bringing you straight to me for healing - you might have died if that wound got infected! What were you thinking, anyway, taking on that thing all by yourself? You should have - "

"Shhh," Kuwabara hissed. Botan shushed.

"Sorry. I just..." Her hands stopped hovering and rested lightly on Kuwabara's face. "I was really very worried." That crisp smell came closer as her lips rested on his, gently, and he could feel the heat radiating from her blushing cheeks.

"S'good to be worried about," he rumbled, and she laughed, high-pitched and nervous.

Somewhere in the background, there was the faintest scent of sage. It pricked Kuwabara's nose, and he looked around, but it was gone almost as soon as he'd noticed it.

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So Botan and Kuwabara became an "item", as Keiko called it. It was another cross-dimensional relationship, the only kind he seemed to be able to have. He was concerned at first - he and Yukina hadn't turned out so well, as her obsession over the identity of her brother grew too much for Kuwabara to handle. But Botan was able to travel between worlds far more easily than Yukina had been, and they grew quite close quite quickly.

Kurama never gave Kuwabara any searching looks anymore. In fact, he hardly looked at him at all. Whether they were on a mission or not, Kuwabara had apparently become too insignificant for Kurama's mighty magnifying-glass stare. And it was starting to bug him. He confided in Botan about his frustration, and she suggested he thank Kurama for at least attempting to nurse him back to health - if nothing else, it would break the ice that had grown over their friendship.

So Kuwabara took the train to Kurama's office and waited, flipping through a newspaper until Kurama emerged from the building. He caught sight of the redhead almost immediately and stood, lifting his arm in greeting. Kurama showed no sign of surprise, joy, or anything else - he merely stared blankly at Kuwabara as he spoke.

"Hey, Ku - Shuichi. Wanna go get a drink or something?"

"I don't see why not." Kurama spoke dryly, shooting glances at his coworkers. Kuwabara had a brief flash of fear that he was messing something up for Kurama at his job - maybe he should have worn a newer jacket? But Kurama merely walked towards the train station at his usual brisk pace, and Kuwabara followed, hunching his shoulders self-consciously.

"So I never thanked you for trying to heal me that one time," Kuwabara said almost an hour later. "I figured I should."

"I nearly killed you, Kuwabara," Kurama said into his cup. "Why is that anything to thank me for?"

"You tried," Kuwabara said simply. "You didn't know the poison would mutate when it mixed with my energy."

"It was my fault you were poisoned in the first place." Kurama gripped his cup a bit too tightly. "First I nearly got you killed, and then I nearly killed you. I deserve no thanks, Kuwabara."

"If you hadn't," Kuwabara pointed out, "I probably wouldn't be with Botan now. And I gotta tell you, I'm really happy with her. So can I at least thank you for that?"

The cup shattered.

Kurama swore, quietly, and started to mop up his drink, promising the bartender he would pay for the cup. Kuwabara started to help, snatching napkins from a nearby table, but Kurama stopped him with a hand on his wrist.

"Go, Kuwabara."

"What? But - "

"I will cover your tab. If you feel the need to thank me for anything, thank me for that. What happened between us - no, what _failed_ to happen between us is nothing to celebrate, and I would prefer to maintain our current status, if you please." He looked at Kuwabara for the first time that evening. His eyes were blazing, and as realization dawned Kuwabara felt like he was the one holding the magnifying glass for a change, instead of being under it.

"Kurama, I didn't - "

"Go, Kuwabara."

"I...I'm sorry, I - "

"_Go!"_ Kuwabara stepped backwards, nearly tripping over a chair, unable to tear his eyes from the look on Kurama's face. When he reached the sidewalk he finally turned away, shoving his hands in his pockets and hunching his shoulders.

The smell of sage followed him home.


	7. A Perfect Moment Yuusuke

**Disclaimer: This isn't my sandbox, I'm just playing in it for a while.**

**Notes: I stole these prompts. You hear me? I stole them like the dirty thief that I am. This is the 7th prompt (a perfect moment) from the Eta List at 30kisses on LJ, and I haven't properly signed up for a challenge there, I stole the list because I needed something to get my creativity going. **

**This chapter contains character death.**

**I am breaking my own rule (and adjusting the summary accordingly) - this has no pairings. I have fourteen lists to choose from, and none of the 7th prompts (another rule of mine, going in numerical order if it is across lists) sparked anything, no matter what pairing I chose. So, in the interest of progress - I give you chapter seven.**

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**Yuusuke was falling.

He wasn't quite sure why, or how, all he knew was that there was wind whipping past him at an alarming rate and his head was throbbing.

_Musta got hit_, he thought woozily, reaching up to massage the offending lump on his forehead. _Ow. Musta got hit _hard_. Sure is taking a long time to reach the bottom._ He tried to look behind/below him, at his eventual destination, but discovered that twisting your head around like that isn't as easy when your shoulders have nothing to push on. So he shrugged and fell for a while.

Slowly, the details came back. They - he and his team, though when they became _his_ team, he wasn't quite sure, they were just "the team" and that was all there was to it - they were fighting this big ugly demon thing. Emphasis on the ugly. Extra emphasis on the big. Kuwabara was swinging for its head when one big, ugly purple arm came around and slammed into Yuusuke. And then there was this.

_Maybe we should stop fighting on cliffs,_ Yuusuke mused. His head was throbbing something awful. He quietly made plans to turn up a bottle of asprin and drink it when he got home.

He'd had the terror moments before. The horror-stricken, _oh shit I think he's really gonna this time,_ staring wide-eyed for a split second before it was all going entirely too fast moments. Botan had once accused him (her eyes full of tears and her oar in smacking position) of being addicted to them. Which was entirely untrue - he didn't trust his luck that far. But something about that moment did feel good. Somehow. There was an accord reached, a pact made in the split second of eye contact shock afforded. You were going down, and your friends would make sure it was worth something. Though as the power gap grew between him and his friends, Yuusuke often worried if they'd be able to survive him being taken out. Then he verbally smacked himself - if nothing else, they'd get through on sheer stubborn meaness. _Like when Sensui killed me. They held their own pretty well until I could get away from Koenma's babysitters._

He did worry about Keiko, though. She was a big girl now, he knew that, but she still wasn't a fighter. Not in the way that would keep her safe, anyway. _That's what Kuwabara's for. At least, it had better be. Hell, she got along on her own while we were off killing things with our bare hands, hopefully Enki can keep these fuckers in check and away from her._

_Damn_, but his head was hurting. _And not that I'm in a rush or anything, but am I gonna reach the bottom anyti-_

He was cut off as a small shelf of rock caught him squarely in the small of the back. It shattered under the impact, and he rolled in mid-air, facing the ground. Which, he could now see, was growing quite close quite quickly.

_Well,_ he thought.

Suddenly, he was thankful that at least there were no fish involved.

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"Sir?"

"What?"

"Sir, Urameshi to see you." George retreated swiftly. Yuusuke supposed he looked like something that needed running from.

"Yes?" Koenma said impatiently, all but glaring up at Yuusuke. "Was there something you needed, Yuusuke? If not, get out, I'm busy." He returned to stamping papers with the care and discretion of an annoyed chimpanzee.

"I have," Yuusuke said quietly, "one _hell_ of a headache."


	8. You Can't Make A Deal if Hiei

**Disclaimer: This isn't my sandbox, I'm just playing in it for a while.**

**Notes: I stole these prompts. You hear me? I stole them like the dirty thief that I am. This is the 8th prompt (you can't make a deal if you're dead) from the Nu List at 30kisses on LJ, and I haven't properly signed up for a challenge there, I stole the list because I needed something to get my creativity going. **

**This chapter **_**could**_** contain Kurama/Hiei. If you stand on your head and squint.**

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**Hiei was very careful.

Okay, there was that period in his youth where he was baiting enemies with a shiny hanging from his neck, but everyone went through that stage. These days, he was careful. He had actual plans now. Something to live for. He couldn't look after Yukina if he was dead. He couldn't work for Mukuro, either, as distasteful as the job often proved itself to be. Now was one of those times.

No, he had to be alive to do those things. Unfortunately, "alive" was proving a difficult concept to hang on to recently. So was his blood, it seemed. He was leaving a trail even Yuusuke could follow.

_Yuusuke_, his brain hissed. _Go there, it's closer - _

But Yuusuke would ask questions. Questions Hiei didn't feel like answering, no matter how amusing the ex-detective's reaction to "demon sex war" would be. Not to mention the fact that he wasn't sure a basic first aid kit - if Yuusuke even had one - would suffice for the wounds he was sporting.

_The oaf lives nearby. Yukina's there. She can heal you._

No. Yukina or no Yukina, he was not appealing to Kuwabara for aid in the middle of the night. No, Kurama was really his best bet. He knew better than to ask questions, always had blood-replenishing plants on hand, and most importantly, didn't mind bloodstains on his bedroom floor.

He was still trying to convince himself it was worth the trouble when he thumped on Kurama's window. Less of a knock, really, and more of a "collapsing against the side of the house" manuver.

"Hiei?" Kurama muttered sleepily, staring out through half-open eyes. The name rapidly became an exclaimation, and Hiei found himself dragged into the house and settled onto the floor before he heard the window snap shut.

A kind of calm settled over Hiei. He was safe. Kurama would make sure he survived the night, at least. And he wouldn't ask why Hiei had a gash straight up the center of his torso, and though he might make some sly remark about it the next time they met, he wouldn't be surprised when Hiei wasn't there the next day.

Having finally convinced himself that yes, walking twelve miles with a heavily bleeding wound was indeed worth it, he let himself sink into the blackness.

But not before Kurama's words reached him: "I assure you, I am only doing this because you now owe me, hugely, and I don't want you using death as an excuse not to pay up. We can shake on it when we're both more awake."

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**"Demon sex war" is shamelessly lifted from nightwalker3's fic "The Perils of Idle Conversation" - check it out if you like Yuusuke/Kurama silliness and Kuwabara being traumatized.**


	9. Closet YuusukeKuwabara

**Disclaimer: This isn't my sandbox, I'm just playing in it for a while.**

**Notes: I stole these prompts. You hear me? I stole them like the dirty thief that I am. This is the 9th prompt (closet) from the Epsilon List at 30kisses on LJ, and I haven't properly signed up for a challenge there, I stole the list because I needed something to get my creativity going. **

**This chapter contains Kuwabara/Yuusuke, sexual references, and an **_**incredibly**_** cliché**** interpretation of the prompt. My apologies for that. (Hey, at least I didn't beat the hell out of them this time.)  
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When Kuwabara first heard the phrase "in the closet", he took a good long look at his own closet. He'd have to turn sideways to get through the door, and even if it weren't for the, y'know, _clothes_ taking up most of the space, he wasn't sure it was deep enough for him to close the door once he was inside. So he couldn't be in the closet, he decided firmly. There was no way for him to fit in there, so there was no way he could _be_ in there. It was all science, really. Depth and width and stuff. Or was that math...?

Years passed and his literal interpretation of the world faded, and Kuwabara realized that not only was he in the closet, he had locked the door and swallowed the key (along with a few other things). His guys knew, and they kept his secret faithfully. It felt good, he decided, to crack the closet door a little. But only a little. There was a difference between letting in a friend and inviting in trouble.

Shizurru mocked his obsession with Urameshi, of course, the way she did everything. _Just ask him out already_, she sighed when he came home with fresh bruises. Kuwabara protested, loudly and manfully, and Shizurru rolled her eyes, but the thought stuck. He wasn't _attracted_ to his rival - the kid looked greasy, for one thing, and he always smelled like cigarettes and cheap booze - he _admired_ him, more like. And not the anonymous-letters-in-your-locker kind of admired, either. There was strength there, strength Kuwabara wanted, and somehow he figured the only way to get it was to take it from Urameshi. It took half a year, a funeral, and two missions before Kuwabara realized there was a way to _share_ strength, and it was really all Yuusuke had ever wanted.

xxxxxx

And then there was Hanging-Neck Island. Genkai died, and Yuusuke broke. Yuusuke broke, and screamed, and cried, and got falling-down drunk in the hotel room.

"I'm not sure this is how she'd want to be mourned," Kuwabara muttered, snatching up the last bottle. He was a little more than half drunk himself, but his teammate was in far worse shape. "You're not gonna be able to fight."

"I'll be fine. Gimme that."

"No, Urameshi. Sleep it off."

"Don't be a dick, 'bara, givvithere."

"_No_. I'm gonna drunk...drink it, and you're gonna sleep." Yuusuke stumbled upright, launching himself at Kuwabara's left hand.

"Give it here!"

"What are you, six? Hey, no biting!"

But suddenly the bites where gentle, and moving, and Kuwabara found himself with a face full of Urameshi. He tasted like he smelled - booze and cigarettes - but Kuwabara found himself relaxing into the kiss anyway, the alarm bells muffled by alcohol and need. Yuusuke gripped his arm roughly, pushing him backwards, and Kuwabara fell.

The closet door was flung open, and the light blinded Kuwabara. Or maybe his dreams were pushing metaphors into real life, because the blinds were wide open, and the early morning sunlight seemed to be stabbing directly into Kuwabara's brain. He groaned and threw an arm over his eyes. Or tried to, anyway - there was something weighing it down. Something tan, and dark-haired, and...

_Oh shit_, Kuwabara's brain hissed. _Oh shit, oh damn, oh fuck, oh shit, oh damn..._ It went on like that for a little while, until Yuusuke stirred, sliding his hand across Kuwabara's chest. Kuwabara tensed. So did Yuusuke. Slowly, his eyes opened. Slowly, he sat up. He licked his lips and for a minute, then just stared. Kuwabara couldn't help, somewhere in his mind, admitting that it could have been worse - Yuusuke was slight, and his muscles stood out against his skin nicely, and the jut of hipbones just above where the covers started -

"My face is up _here_, Kuwabara." Yuusuke's voice was terse. Kuwabara snapped his eyes away from Yuusuke's (_sharp, digging into my palm, traced with my mouth) _hipbones to his frowning face.

"Sorry." Another staring match.

"We were drunk," Yuusuke muttered finally, dragging himself out of Kuwabara's bed. "That's all it was. We were drunk, I was pissed and wanted...we were drunk. It happens." Somewhere between agreeing with him and wondering who he was trying to convince, Kuwabara felt something sinking into his stomach. It felt like a rock. Which was stupid, he hadn't eaten any _rocks_. So why should there - oh, no. No, no, no, no, no, _no_. He _admired_ Urameshi, _respected_ him. Urameshi was his _teammate_, his _rival_...

Yes, Urameshi was all of those things. But _Yuusuke_...Yuusuke was different. Urameshi was over there getting dressed. Kuwabara wanted Yuusuke back in the bed. He opened his mouth. Nothing came out. He tried again.

"It could happen...again," he said, lamely. Yuusuke froze, turned and stared at Kuwabara, who tried very hard not to feel like he was being set on fire.

"What are you trying to tell me here, Kuwabara?" Several phrases ran through Kuwabara's head. They were all lame, cliché and stupid. So he just stood up, took Yuusuke's face in his hands, and kissed him. Gently, tugging at his lower lip with his teeth, hands sliding onto Yuusuke's shoulders, he kissed him. It wasn't drunk and angry, like before. Kuwabara tried to put words into it, though even in his head that sounded dumb, tried to get Yuusuke to understand. Yuusuke tensed, drawing back his hand (probably to punch Kuwabara), before he slumped, dragging Kuwabara backwards as he collapsed onto his own bed.

"There is an unfair clothes ratio here," he murmured.

"And whose fault is that?"

"Shut up."

xxxxxx

They did eventually talk about it, briefly, awkwardly, and interspersed with punching just to keep Yuusuke's brain from melting from trying to have a serious conversation, but there was really only one point that needed to be reached.

Closets were tiny, cramped, and meant for little else than clothes.

But they could also be a lot of fun, if you were with the right person.


	10. Violin HieiKurama

**Disclaimer: This isn't my sandbox, I'm just playing in it for a while.**

**Notes: I stole these prompts. You hear me? I stole them like the dirty thief that I am. This is the 10th prompt (violin) from the Lambda List at 30kisses on LJ, and I haven't properly signed up for a challenge there, I stole the list because I needed something to get my creativity going. **

**This chapter contains Kurama/Hiei, musician!Kurama, and my personal fanon creeping in from the side.**

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Hiei is sitting in a tree in Kurama's front yard, listening to him play the violin. Kurama knows he's there. The window's open. He _wants_ Hiei to hear. Because he knows that Hiei knows what the notes drifting through the air towards him mean.

It means the fox is pissed.

He only ever plays the violin when he's pissed. Hiei asked once, and Kurama muttered something about "music soothes the savage beast" and changed the subject. The music never shows Kurama's anger - the notes are soft and lilting, as calm on the surface as Kurama himself, everything from classical to his own compositions.

But it still means he's pissed.

Hiei's getting a little pissed off, too, at himself. For whatever the hell it was he did that's got Kurama in a snit, and for _caring_ so damn much. He tries to tell himself it's the sex, because the truth is he would really miss the sex, but it's not. There's a big Kurama-shaped empty space next to him, and it's throwing him off in everything from sparring to walking in a straight line.

And he'd like the music to stop, too. It feeds from his past, reminding him of things he'd rather not be reminded of, like lilting lullabies in the wrong key, or the perfect pitch of a drill overhead. The more recent past as well, a person he'd rather not remember being, the one that landed in a different tree on a different night with a different goal.

xxxxxxx

Hiei crouches outside the window, watching the redhead inside play the instrument tucked under his chin. His face is blank, his touch light on the strings, but he can read people, and this one is wound like a clock.

_And he knows I'm here_, he thinks bitterly, chopping at the vine at his feet before it can take hold. The music stops.

"I know you," he says, laying the instrument inside its case. He doesn't look up.

"We've worked together once before," Hiei affirms, standing. "I'm offering we do it again."

"As you can see, I'm not myself." His voice is utterly bland, yet Hiei can't help but feel like he's being snubbed somehow. "I don't 'work' with anyone anymore. I'm sorry you came all the way here for nothing."

"It's King Enma's vault," Hiei presses, stubbornness overriding sense. No thief, former or otherwise, can resist such a target. Sure enough, he sees interest in the gaze that's leveled at him and presses on. "There's one other, Gouki. A big dumb thug, but necessary muscle."

"The goal?"

"Whatever you can run with." He folds his hands, presses his fingers to his lips. Hiei is silent until that gaze meets his again. There's a hardness hiding behind his eyes, one Hiei wasn't expecting. As though he's just made a difficult decision that he knows he will live to regret. Hiei can't see what's so difficult about it - he'd have been murdering in the streets after five minutes of being forced to stay here.

He speaks, his tone sending a chill down Hiei's spine.

"Where do we meet?"

xxxxxx

Hiei learned later that Kurama had just been told of his mother's predicted fate - any other time, and any other target, and he'd probably have been told exactly what to do with his sword. Backwards. But the conditions had worked out, detective-inflicted injuries notwithstanding, and it had all led to this.

Hiei, crouching in a tree, watching Kurama play the violin and wondering what he was going to say when that stare finally met his again.

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**I talk a lot about Kurama's gaze. That's because when the **_**animated eyes**_** from my laptop screen are giving me the willies, it sticks with me. Go watch episodes 83-84. You'll see. **


	11. Same Mistake Twice BotanYuusuke

**Disclaimer: This isn't my sandbox, I'm just playing in it for a while.**

**Notes: I stole these prompts. You hear me? I stole them like the dirty thief that I am. This is the 11th prompt (don't make the same mistake twice.) from the Xi List at 30kisses on LJ, and I haven't properly signed up for a challenge there, I stole the list because I needed something to get my creativity going. **

**This chapter contains Botan/OMC and one-sided Botan/Yuusuke.**

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**There had been another like Yuusuke, once. Daisuke was his name. Died before his time and spent a few days floating around town before his paperwork got processed. But he had been offered no ordeal, no test of his spirit. He wasn't useful, or even convenient. He was just a nuisance, another vein protruding from Koenma-sama's forehead.

But Botan had liked him. She had liked him a great deal. She made excuses to hover with him, laughing at his commentary on the people below. If he knew any of them, he didn't say, and she didn't ask. His smile was too nice to chase away like that.

He asked once, where he would go. He was watching a sunset with her, arm draped over one knee.

"Depends on what kind of person you were," she had replied quietly. "I can check - "

"No," he interrupted gently. "Where do _you_ think I'll go, Botan? The me that you know?" She stared at him.

"Someplace wonderful," she said finally, smiling brightly at him.

"And...will you be there with me?" Her smile faded.

"Daisuke..."

"Answer me, Botan. Will you be there with me, in that wonderful place?"

"I...I can't, Daisuke." She looked away from him, at the fading sun. "You and I are very different beings. I have to continue ferrying souls across the River. You...you have to stay on that side."

"Well then," Daisuke said. "It won't be all that wonderful, will it?" He began fading, the light shining through him more and more, as Botan just stared. He turned to her, at the very last, and smiled that beautiful smile of his. "Visit me sometime, ne?"

And he was gone.

She tried to visit. Stood at the gate for half an hour. Her feet refused to cross the threshold. There were words waiting on that side, words she couldn't say. So she just stood there, ignoring the looks from the ogre on duty, and asked Daisuke to forgive her cowardice, just this once.

xxxxxx

Botan shook the memories away as she stood, in human form, staring at a different sunset in a different town with a different boy. He cocked an eyebrow at her in question. She just smiled.

"I just remembered a mistake I made, once."

"You're the only person I know that would smile when remembering a mistake," the boy muttered.

"I learned from it," she said quietly, watching her feet. "I learned...not to do that again."

"They never call, do they?" Botan's head snapped up. Yuusuke was grinning. "I knew it."

"You don't know anything," she huffed, crossing her arms. "Stop smiling!" _You look too much like him._

"I'm not smiling at _you_."

"Then what?"

"The sunset. I like sunsets." _Not as much as he did_.

"Idiot."

"Oi, where are you going?"

"Back to the temple!" _Before I make another mistake._


	12. Scissors YuusukeKurama

**Disclaimer: This isn't my sandbox, I'm just playing in it for a while.**

**Notes: I stole these prompts. You hear me? I stole them like the dirty thief that I am. This is the 12th prompt (scissors) from the Delta List at 30kisses on LJ, and I haven't properly signed up for a challenge there, I stole the list because I needed something to get my creativity going. **

**This chapter contains Yuusuke/Kurama and spoilers for the Chapter Black arc.**

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Yuusuke stood in Kurama's backyard, holding his hair in one hand to keep it from blowing into his face, and waited for Kurama to follow through on his offer to cut it off for him. Shizurru had offered as well, but Kurama had a backyard, where the loose hair could just blow away.

_And it has nothing to do with dreams full of redheads._ That was his mantra, anyway. You'd think after everything that happened in the caves he'd have a little more restraint, but something in him seized on those memories now, and kept replaying them. It was starting to piss him off, actually. He kept reaching back with his other hand to scratch his neck, until Kurama slapped it away.

"You'll scratch yourself bloody," he said when Yuusuke turned to glare at him. "I have plants out here that react to the smell of blood."

"How do plants _smell_?" Yuusuke asked, letting Kurama tug the mass of hair out of his hand.

"Quite nice, usually."

"Smartass." Yuusuke smelled roses and felt a tingle go up his arms. "Kurama?"

"Hm?"

"Did you just draw your whip?" Kurama paused.

"You sensed that?"

"I think so." Another pause.

"I guess your senses have improved, as well. I should have expected. You might even be able to track energy now." Yuusuke perked up at this. He hated having to rely on Kuwabara for - _he just changed the subject on me, didn't he._

"Kurama, are you about to cut my hair with your whip?"

"That was my intention, yes," Kurama sighed.

"Don't you own _scissors_?" Kurama poked the end of Yuusuke's hair in front of him.

"Do you really want me to spend all day hacking at _this_ with _scissors_?"

"...carry on." The hair dropped back behind Yuusuke, grazing the small of his back and sending a shiver up his spine.

"I need you to stand very still now, Yuusuke," Kurama said as he wrapped the whip around Yuusuke's hair near the base of his neck. "I'm going to have to pull hard to get it to cut through this, and I'd rather not remove your head."

"We've all had enough of that," Yuusuke muttered, closing his eyes and focusing on not moving.

"...quite," Kurama replied tightly, and Yuusuke felt him pull. A weight fell away from him, and he nearly toppled forward. "I said don't move."

"I just lost ten pounds off my head," Yuusuke shot back. "You try keeping your balance after that."

"Just turn around and let me finish," Kurama sighed. Yuusuke obliged and Kurama stepped closer, dismissing the whip and pulling a pair of scissors from his pocket. "Are you sure you don't want to keep a little length?"

"Just back to normal, please."

"Very well." The scissors ghosted across Yuusuke's neck and he heard them snipping quietly as more hair fell away. Kurama brushed the loose hair off of Yuusuke's shoulders, drawing goosebumps from his skin. Yuusuke gritted his teeth. _Not while he's got a pointy object in his hand. _The scissors moved steadily upwards, clipping the hair closer to Yuusuke's head. Kurama's breath hit Yuusuke's neck, his ear, and he clenched his fists.

Kurama moved around to his front, cutting the hair away from his face. Yuusuke closed his eyes. He didn't need to see Kurama that close, too similar to his dreams, too much disappointment. Kurama kept brushing the hair off of his shoulders, his breath kept puffing over his neck, and Yuusuke just stood there, nails digging into his palm, until Kurama stepped away.

"Finished," he said, and Yuusuke opened his eyes. Kurama was tucking the scissors back into his pocket, smiling. No, not smiling. _Smirking_. Yuusuke knew that smirk. That was an "all according to plan" smirk. That was a "look at what I did" smirk. That was the smirk of a _bastard._ And Yuusuke couldn't decide if he liked it or not.

"You son of a bitch," he growled, and Kurama looked up.

"What?" His eyes were wide, the very picture of innocence. Except for the gleam in the corner of his eye that Yuusuke knew to look for, and when he found it, Kurama knew. The smirk reappeared on his face and the innocence turned to wickedness as Yuusuke marched across the yard towards him. He grabbed Kurama by the back of the neck and yanked him closer, mashing their mouths together almost violently. His other hand came up to tangle in Kurama's hair, and Kurama slid his arms around Yuusuke's waist.

"You _knew_," Yuusuke accused when they broke apart.

"You're not hard to read, Yuusuke." Mirth was dancing in Kurama's eyes, and it just made Yuusuke want to kiss him again.

So he did.

xxxxxx

"You should have kept the hair," Kurama murmured later, running his fingers across Yuusuke's scalp.

"Not everybody can pull it off like you," Yuusuke muttered in reply, pressing his nose against Kurama's neck. "'Sides, it itches."

"As you like," Kurama sighed, draping his arm across Yuusuke's shoulders. He just didn't know what he was missing, Kurama decided. He'd learn.

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**This cop-out ending is brought to you by FF.N's refusal to allow pornfic. (I may or may not post an "adult" version elsewhere later.)**


	13. Hourglass Kuwabara

**Disclaimer: This isn't my sandbox, I'm just playing in it for a while.**

**Notes: I stole these prompts. You hear me? I stole them like the dirty thief that I am. This is the 13th prompt (hourglass) from the Beta List at 30kisses on LJ, and I haven't properly signed up for a challenge there, I stole the list because I needed something to get my creativity going. **

**This chapter has old Kuwabara.**

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He could feel it, sometimes. Time itself, dragging at his bones. He'd lived for a very long time by now, longer than any human should have. Nearly a hundred, by Yuusuke's reckoning. He hadn't visited for a while now. Only called on his birthday because Botan made him, he knew. She'd taken up a lot of Keiko's duties after she'd passed. God, that must have been twenty years ago, now.

Age did things like that, he had come to realize. Decades could pass in no time, simply because nothing _happened_.

He had taught for a long time, spent some time traveling, came home to find Yukina waiting for him. And they had made a good life together, he wasn't denying that. It was just a lonely life, was all. They had a little house, close enough to town he could get there by bike, isolated enough no one could really say they remembered how long he'd lived there.

The others hadn't visited in years. He couldn't really resent them for it. He didn't want to see them frozen in time any more than they wanted to see him with his face lined and his hair gone to grey.

He just wished, sometimes, that he had lived a normal lifetime. Seventy-five years would have been a good long while. Yeah, he'd earned some years of peace, but by God, he'd stopped fighting when he was fifteen. The odd demon getting loose wasn't enough to add this much sand to the hourglass.

And then he saw her, aging like he was, only much slower. Her hair was lighter, her powers stronger, and her smile produced wrinkles at the corners of her eyes. And then he was happy he'd lived this long, and hoped for a few years more, just to see how lovely she could possibly get.

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**Hi there. Remember me? Yeah, it's been a while. Sorry about that. **


	14. Karma Kurama & Kuwabara

**Disclaimer: This isn't my sandbox, I'm just playing in it for a while.**

**Notes: I stole these prompts. You hear me? I stole them like the dirty thief that I am. This is the 14th prompt (destiny/fate/karma) from the Beta List at 30kisses on LJ, and I haven't properly signed up for a challenge there, I stole the list because I needed something to get my creativity going. **

**This chapter contains Kuwabara and Kurama being all introspective. **

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He often toyed with the idea of fate - was he meant to be here, in an office job with no hope of promotion because his stepfather was no longer manager and the new manager assumed he was only there because of nepotism? (That was when he started toying with the idea of karma, and wondering if the punishment quite fit the crimes.) He had given up his demon life, that much was true, but there were times, when he looked out at the window and saw nothing but steel, that he mourned it. There was no shame in enjoying a good fight, was there? Certainly not in the victory.

He had won, hadn't he? He'd beaten the Youko with Shigeru's blade. So why, then, did he feel so defeated?

It was this question that found him on Kuwabara's doorstep. Kuwabara had given up the fight much the same way he had. Perhaps it had given him answers.

"Ku - Shuichi! Man, I'm never gonna get used to that," he muttered, still smiling lop-sidedly at Kurama.

"No one's around to compromise me, Kuwabara." Kurama returned the smile with more warmth than he expected to feel. "Call me whatever you like."

"Come on in, then, Kurama." Kuwabara opened the door wide and Kurama stepped inside, toeing his shoes off before following Kuwabara to the kitchen. "What brings you into the crappy side of town? Don't tell me you're looking for work."

"No, my job is...stable," he said dryly. "And there are worse places to live. You've done quite well for yourself."

"Yeah, well, 'under-appreciated teaching assistant' was _not_ on my list of Places I Want to Be in Ten Years." Kuwabara raised a coffee pot in question. Kurama lifted a hand to decline. "It's hard, sometimes. These little snot-nosed wannabes, skippin' class and - "

"Acting much like you used to?" Kuwabara gave Kurama a sheepish look over the rim of his mug.

"Yeah, well. It's hard not to knock their heads together sometimes. We didn't save the freakin' world so they could mess up the same way we tried to."

"And there's no telling them that, is there?"

"No. Wish there was, though." Kuwabara gazed wistfully at the wall for a moment before turning back to Kurama. "You didn't come all the way out here to listen to me bitch and moan. What's shakin'?"

"Actually, my complaints are quite similar to your own." Kurama sat at the kitchen table, resting his chin in his hand. "When I said my job was 'stable', I meant it in the strictest since. Steady, unchanging, and utterly dull."

"You're missing the fight too, huh?" Kuwabara sat across from him.

"No, not the fight itself. My stomach could do without a new wound each week."

"Hey, man, I told you to block."

"It's difficult to block your stomach when your weapon is at your neck."

"You didn't need both hands for it."

"I didn't come here to bring up old arguments, either." Kuwabara smiled. Kurama resisted the urge to smack him, Yuusuke-style, for old times' sake. Then he sighed, resting his chin in his hand and looking out the window. "I suppose it's just paranoia. Things have never been peaceful for this long. I keep waiting for the other shoe to drop."

"We've earned a few years of quiet paranoia," Kuwabara said, stretching his arms out behind his head. "The shoe can stay right where it is." He followed Kurama's gaze, and a small, wistful sigh escaped him. "For a while, anyway."

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**This is a perfect example of when I start out intending to follow the prompt all the way through...and then I don't.**


	15. Separated YuusukeKeiko

**Disclaimer: This isn't my sandbox, I'm just playing in it for a while.**

**Notes: I stole these prompts. You hear me? I stole them like the dirty thief that I am. This is the 15th prompt (separated) from the Epsilon List at 30kisses on LJ, and I haven't properly signed up for a challenge there, I stole the list because I needed something to get my creativity going. **

**This chapter contains Yuusuke/Keiko and sentences that start with conjunctions. **

Every day she found him, yelled at him, dragged him places he didn't want to go (like class), pestered him about things that were really none of her business, and was a general pain in his ass. And every day, without fail, he griped at her, moaned and complained, embarrassed her in public.

"Why don't you just go away?" was commonly heard in town, groaned from the corners of shops Keiko seemed to be setting up house in.

And then, one day, she did.

Well, to be perfectly specific, _he _did. He went away. So, so far away that when he actually got a chance to sit down and think about it, it scared him. He couldn't remember being that far away from Keiko. And sure enough, that was when he needed her. That was just how his life _worked._

But he saved her, even if he did it from so, so far away. She wouldn't know it for months, but that was what happened.

He griped a little less after that.

She followed him then, to Hanging-Neck Island, and once again he wished she'd go away. But no, she was staying, because she was stubborn and prideful and so, so beautiful when she glared at him like that.

But there were places she couldn't follow him, and he had never felt the distance more keenly than he did for the year he was in Makai, counting the days in tally marks on his bedroom wall. There was no way of knowing if she was following through on her threat of finding new boyfriends, and the thought made him agitated and grumpy and tired all at once. He could feel her, in his bones, pulling him back.

But then he came back. Because he _always_ came back, even when physics and biology both said he had no right to. Keiko tackled him and Kuwabara punched him and Botan looked on and laughed, and he felt a little bit of right slide into his world.

And at the wedding, when he promised to stand by her, they met eyes and smiled, because they both knew better. He'd leave, that was inevitable, thanks to either Koenma or his own restlessness. But he'd come back. Keiko was his anchor, his reference point that the whole Ningenkai revolved around. He never could stay away for long.


	16. All Your Life KuramaKuwabara

**Disclaimer: This isn't my sandbox, I'm just playing in it for a while.**

**Notes: I stole these prompts. You hear me? I stole them like the dirty thief that I am. This is the 16th prompt (all your life) from the Beta List at 30kisses on LJ, and I haven't properly signed up for a challenge there, I stole the list because I needed something to get my creativity going. **

**This chapter contains Kurama/Kuwabara and a valiant attempt not to make "all your base" puns. **

On his fifth birthday, Kurama recieved a toy piano, one you sat on the floor in front of and plonked on the keys.

Kuwabara got in a fight with one of his friends over whose slice of cake was bigger.

On his twelfth birthday, Kurama surprised his mother by kissing her on the cheek after she gave him his gift.

Kuwabara had detention for fighting with his classmates.

On his seventeenth birthday, Kurama was the victim of a "surprise" party, complete with booze, spiked punch, and he was pretty sure the cake was somehow alcoholic as well. Kuwabara left early, muttering something about not trusting himself.

Kuwabara got much the same treatment, until he got in a fight with Yuusuke for suggesting they play Spin the Bottle.

On his twenty-third birthday, Kurama spent the day answering celebratory phone calls and reminiscing about years past - he stayed on the phone with Kuwabara for an hour and a half.

Kuwabara, having had three tests and an essay due on his birthday, was expecting little more than a phone call from his sister and some wine he'd been saving. What he found was Kurama, standing in front of his apartment door, eyes sharp. His surprised, stammered greeting was cut off when Kurama kissed him, and the kiss was cut off by Kuwabara tripping backwards over the steps in his haste to get away. Kurama just leaned over and offered him a hand up, and after a moment Kuwabara took it. They stood there, just staring at each other, Kurama with a patient little half-smile on his face. When they kissed again it was Kuwabara that did it, taking Kurama's face in his hands and moving with the hesitance of someone who wasn't quite sure what he wanted.

He had been fighting all his life, and only now did he realize that surrender was infinitely more satisfying.


	17. Little White Lie Kurama

**Disclaimer: This isn't my sandbox, I'm just playing in it for a while.**

**Notes: I stole these prompts. You hear me? I stole them like the dirty thief that I am. This is the 17th prompt (little white lie) from the Eta List at 30kisses on LJ, and I haven't properly signed up for a challenge there, I stole the list because I needed something to get my creativity going.**

**This chapter contains Kurama being all soul-searchy. **

He had made a lifetime off of lies. His mother, his family, his friends - there were things he couldn't ever tell them. But even past that there were things he _would_ not tell them, largely out of his own vanity. Some of them were legitmate secrets, things it would actually hurt them to know, but far more he kept hidden to protect his pride, to pretend he had never been the man he once was.

They came back for him, sometimes. Kuronoue being the most greivous example - a lie he had told himself. It was a small thing, he convinced himself, to pretend seeing that face again hadn't made his heart race, that having to kill him twice didn't tear his soul in half. A necessity of battle.

As the years went on, he grew weary of lies. He tired of watching himself, of each word being a careful half-step towards the truth but never quite reaching it.

But he had forgotten how not to. Half-truths were a second nature now, vauge smiles and careful wording all he knew. He had become trapped in his own lies, simple truth a wall between him and those he most wanted to hear it.


	18. Necrology Koenma

**Disclaimer: This isn't my sandbox, I'm just playing in it for a while.**

**Notes: I stole these prompts. You hear me? I stole them like the dirty thief that I am. This is the 18th prompt (necrologist/necrology) from the Mu List at 30kisses on LJ, and I haven't properly signed up for a challenge there, I stole the list because I needed something to get my creativity going.**

**This chapter contains Koenma and a prompt I had to look up the meaning of. **

Koenma's life was busy. He knew that, his friends knew that, and he tried not to let guilt distract him. He only saw them when he was sending them somewhere life- and sanity-threatening, and the sheer act of putting up with Yuusuke for that long kept him from apologizing properly. Barely enough to justify as a friend, really, but something had changed in the way Yuusuke insulted him that made him realize he was considered one.

He wondered often, what it would be like to just show up, knock on Kuwabara's door or bump into Kurama on the street. He wondered how they'd react.

_Answer: crap themselves trying to figure out what's broken and if I want them to fix it,_ he told himself, sighing and returning to his work. He had one job that would fill the rest of eternity: monitoring the names of the dead. Passing judgement on their lives and determining where their souls would rest.

That would be his service to them, he decided. He would watch for their names, no matter how long it took them to appear, and he would make sure they rested happily and in comfort, no matter their crimes in life.

After all, what were friends for?


	19. Olive Branch KuwabaraYuusuke

**Disclaimer: This isn't my sandbox, I'm just playing in it for a while.**

**Notes: I stole these prompts. You hear me? I stole them like the dirty thief that I am. This is the 19th prompt (olive branch) from the Kappa List at 30kisses on LJ, and I haven't properly signed up for a challenge there, I stole the list because I needed something to get my creativity going.**

**This chapter contains Yuusuke/Kuwabara and was written in a slight state of sleep deprivation. **

Kuwabara had to check the calendar at least twice before he convinced himself he hadn't gone back in time. Maybe Yuusuke had gone forward in time. It was the only thing he could think of that would make the other man revert so suddenly to the way he had acted in middle school. Three times now he'd jumped Kuwabara on the street, though at least it was nowhere anyone else could see them, fighting him to a standstill before hesitating and running off. Kuwabara didn't get beaten as easily as he used to, managing only a few scrapes, and Yuusuke was fighting like a human. Nothing behind his punches but muscle, which he wasn't exactly lacking in either, but a demon-powered punch would have shattered Kuwabara's jaw like chalk. Not even glass. Chalk.

And that, he decided, was the weirdest part. Self-control was hardly Yuusuke's middle name, but he was deliberately holding himself back, making sure Kuwabara could walk away.

"If he wanted to spar he could have just fucking said so," he complained, stabbing at his food.

"Maybe you pissed him off," Shizurru suggested. He considered it for a moment before shaking his head.

"Nah, he would have said something. While he was punching me, but he would have _said_ something."

Shizurru just shrugged. "Maybe he likes you." Kuwabara narrowed his eyes at her. Her powers had only grown as she'd gotten older, and she enjoyed using that fact to torment him sometimes. She had been right often enough that he couldn't bring himself to discount even the remarkably insane notion that Urameshi was pulling his pigtails.

"Sis."

"What? Just a suggestion."

"Well stop...suggesting. Things. I gotta get to class." He grabbed his bag from beside him and made his way out the door, trying to forget the look Shizurru had given him.

The forgetting part turned out to be pretty easy, as his day was from one of the more unpleasant rings of Hell. He was exhausted and more or less mentally dead, and that's what he would tell anyone who happened to see Yuusuke walk up to him and sock him in the jaw without him so much as thinking about blocking.

"Alright," he growled, dropping his bag and grabbing Yuusuke by the front of his jacket. He didn't often utilize his height advantage but he did it now, making Yuusuke stumble on tip-toe as he shoved him against the nearest building. He could smell alcohol and Yuusuke was muttering something about dropping him, the words slurred and almost inaudible. Kuwabara shoved Yuusuke up against the wall and held him there, growling into his face. "Alright," he repeated. "You've pulled this _four times_ now, Urameshi! I never thought I'd say it but I'm tired of punching you in the face! What do I gotta do to make you knock it the hell off?"

That was when Yuusuke kissed him, by way of shoving his head forward and nearly giving both of them a concussion. Kuwabara jerked away but Yuusuke's hands fisted in his shirt, pulling him forward, stretching almost desperately towards his mouth. Their lips finally met and something _clicked_, a spark running up Kuwabara's spine and into his brain, and he told himself to pull away again. But he didn't, his mouth was betraying him, deepening the kiss, his hands sliding up the back of his neck and into his hair, pulling him closer. Yuusuke's hands were on his chest, his teeth tugging at his lip, and Kuwabara finally got the mental strength to pull away.

He stared down at Yuusuke, at the redness of his mouth and the way his chest heaved, and he tried not to think about how he could still taste booze and some dark, sharp flavor that was either more booze or Yuusuke. (He shivered at the thought and promptly pretended it was the cold of the...mid-afternoon. Yes.)

He licked his lips, blinking. He wanted to say something. There was something that needed to be said here. But all he could think was _Shizurru is such a pain in the ass when she's right_ and that was hardly helpful or productive. So he just kept blinking down at Yuusuke, his fingers scratching absently at the nape of his neck, and Yuusuke seemed to come to himself enough to blush (had he ever seen Urameshi blush?) and look away.

"So," he said finally. "...truce?"

All Kuwabara could do was laugh. It wasn't the weirdest peace offering he'd gotten, but as he leaned in to kiss him again, he decided it was going to be the most fun to negotiate the terms of.

**I don't know why I'm so weird about putting the actual prompt line in the fic. Maybe the same reason I don't like when a song's chorus is the title. **


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